Padfoot Recommends

Whoops.  I thought today was Tuesday; my bizzle.

1.  Kindle

 2.  The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

 3.  Hairspray

 4.  French & Saunders

 5.  Sun-dried Tomatoes

Happy Christmas

As you know, today is Christmas.  Although Christmas is not an especially exciting time of year for me, I do recognize the importance and significance of the day.  Christmas is a time of year for celebrating the birth of Jesus, spending time with the people you love, and giving back to those you care about.


On New Years, I intend to write an in-depth entry on the year and so forth so I won't bore you with a sneak peak, now.

I enjoyed the time I have spent with my family, this holiday and that is what is most important.  In case you were wondering, though, I got a Kindle for Christmas.  I hope your own holiday was well spent.  Happy Christmas.

Padfoot Recommends

Due to my reading and my preferred avenue for attaining world news, I have decided to make this weeks PR an English television themed entry.  These are just a few of my favorites.

1.  BBC

 2.  Doctor Who

 3.  The Vicar of Dibley 

4.  MI-5/Spooks

 5.  Torchwood

Interlude

I hate the phrase "for the win."  I think it sounds stupid and every time I read it or hear it, I immediately think the offender is an idiot.  It is only acceptable and relevant if you are actually engaged in some sort of competition; otherwise, you sound stupid.  I get a similar feeling when someone uses a word that they clearly don't fully understand the definition of... like irony. 

That is all.  Go about your business.

Torn

I'm finding myself torn.  As those who know me are aware, I am a nerd when it comes to 19th century British literature.  Two of my all-time favorite books are Jane Eyre and Pride & Prejudice.  The two men that are branded on my heart muscle are Mr. Rochester and Mr. Darcy.

Here's the rub (had to insert some Shakespeare; you understand), I'm not entirely sure which man is my most favorite dream man.  Mr. Darcy is all manners and goodness.  True, he starts off a little rough but by the end of it, you realize that he always was the best man and he is all sweetness and love.

Mr. Darcy played by Colin Firth in miniseries

Mr. Rochester, on the other hand, starts out very rough mannered and changeable.  He's gruff and softens to Jane and no one else, really.  He plays mind games and manuvears and whatever else.  Granted, he is just trying to bring Jane out of her shell, but later we find that he -- unlike Mr. Darcy -- has a deep dark secret.  In the end, however, he too, is all sweetness and love.

Mr. Rochester played by Toby Stephens in miniseries

I find Mr. Rochester slightly more realistic than Mr. Darcy.  I love them both.  I just don't know.  Both popular miniseries' showcase swoon-worthy leading men.  In 2005, a Pride & Prejudice movie (which I love, although I know others who complain that it doesn't follow the book closely enough) came out and that Darcy was a bit more sensitive but I believe it is because it would be too difficult for him to make such a drastic personality change in two hours when it took six, in the mini series.

Mr. Darcy played by Matthew Macfadyen in 2005 movie

In March, 2011, a new Jane Eyre movie is being released by Focus Features (they made the P&P movie, also).  Michael Fassbender is cast as Mr. Rochester and I look forward to seeing his portrayal.  I've seen some pretty ghastly portrayals of Rochester; actually, come to think of it, I've seen some really terrible adaptations of Jane Eyre.  So, we shall see.

Mr. Rochester played by Michael Fassbender in 2011 movie

So, nothing has been resolved.  I am still torn.  Hopefully, now you are torn as well.  We shall be torn and in love, together.  It will be agonizing and perplexing but we shall endure it as stoically as we can.

Hmm

All day, I've been going back and forth around my house cleaning and doing laundry and the what have you.  In my tiny travels, however, my memory has been evading me, thus, this has been me:

Padfoot Recommends

I always know Winter has come when I break out my 19th century British Literature.  It's like there is some sort of internal mechanism inside of me that compels me to start reading certain books, this time of year.  They are not Christmas-y or even Winter-y.  They are just the sort of books you want to curl up with and read cover to cover -- although for me, that is pretty much every book I read.  Regardless, this weeks Padfoot Recommends will be literature themed; my Winter literature, to be precise.

1.  Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

 2.  Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen

 3.  Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

 4.  Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy 

 5.  Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

 

Misconceptions

Since school ended, I've had a lot more time to be social.  What I've learned from this is that people have a lot of misconceptions about me.  Here is a brief glimpse into the enigmatic creature that is Ashley.  Come along with me:

• I am not confrontational.  At all, really.  I have my opinions and if provoked I will speak my mind but I am not a physical person and I don't seek people out to berate or in anyway assault them. 
• I absolutely loathe people being embarrassed and/or having their feelings hurt.
• I actually do like children -- my issue with children is not so much the child but rather how their parents and other adults in their life allow them to behave -- and want to have them, one day.
• Despite appearances and my cynicism, I am actually a bit of a romantic.
• I am simultaneously proud, vain, and insecure.
• I have never had braces.
• Even though I look unapproachable -- especially when wearing my sunglasses, apparently -- I am actually far more approachable than many of my friends because I can't help but be polite upon first acquaintance.

I can't fault anyone for having their misconceptions about me.  I suppose I'm rather hard to get to know despite my willingness to answer posed questions.  I'm not so much secretive, but private.  Everyone in my life seems to have such contradictory impressions of me.  It's strange; I morph from persona to persona dependent on my company.  I don't even realize it.  I've know all of my friends for so long that I suppose, as we were growing up, that I just wanted to make everyone as comfortable as possible so I made certain facets of my personality more pronounced around their corresponding people.  There are certain commonalities, of course, in each persona.  I don't have multiple personalities.  Maybe I just augment my behavior to suit my company.  I think everyone does that, to some extent, though. 

I guess, when it comes down to it, I can't really be surprised that the people in my life have such misconceptions in regards to my character, disposition, and temperament.  A person can only know you as well as you let them, after all.

Survival Kit

Last night was fun.  After copious amounts of work, it was play time.  For those of you not in the know, "play time" consists of my good friend Dal and I lugging out the xbox controllers and getting our Left 4 Dead 2 on.  He plays Coach and I play Nick.  As an aside:  for those of you who have ever played L4D2, listen to the way Rochelle talks to Nick; she wants him, it's pretty clear.

Anyway, in between levels, we talked about this Living Social thing on facebook where you can make top 5 lists of various things.  I mentioned this one list I made where I listed the top 5 things I would need in a zombie apocalypse.  As another aside:  every quiz or whatever that I have taken about how long I would survive a zombie apocalypse, I always survive the longest amount possible, on the quiz.  My list should be edict.

With that being said, here is my list:

1.  Ammunition

 2.  Semi-Automatic Assault Rifle

 3.  Grenade Launcher

 4. Melee Weapon (I prefer machete's or a Katana)

 5. Handguns (Two, at least, and at least one having a flashlight mounted) 

If I made another list, I would sub in pipe bombs or molotovs for the grenade launcher but they serve a similar purpose and I feel like the grenade launcher offers more control.  Also, I enjoy a shotgun as much as the next girl but when you have dozens coming at you, the flare of an automatic weapon just offers a certain poetry, I think, that the shotgun just can't.

I hope you learned something from this.  Ammo is important so conserve it and go with melee whenever possible.  Always clear a room before you just go galivanting around, and probably the  most important:  stick with your group!  I can't really convey how annoying it is to be part of a group where everyone just goes off on their own.  It's annoying.  OH!  Aim high, also.  Head shots, people.  Central mass is instinct and works in video games but a head shot will seal the deal.

Padfoot Recommends

As promised:

1.  Sirius Radio

 2.  Left 4 Dead

 3.  Using Chopsticks

 

4.  TheSecondCityNetwork 

5.  Electric Blankets

Yet Another Paper

I have a paper due tomorrow.  It is my last assignment of the quarter.  It's nearly 7pm...

In Case You Didn't Know...

Taylor Swift and Jake Gyllenhaal are dating.  Here's why...  Yeah, I'd date him, too.  Just sayin'.